Last month, in celebration of “National Energy Awareness Month,” representatives from California Resources Corporation, Aera Energy, Oxnard College, LULAC and El Concilio presented at a Ventura County Board of Supervisors’ meeting the “Moment of Inspiration” where a “Careers in Energy” program was highlighted that recently took place at Oxnard College.

We demonstrated first-hand how we are working with local private and public education, non-profits, governmental organizations, labor and others to introduce careers in the energy field. These careers run the gamut from engineers to geologists to helicopter pilots; all under the auspices of STEM which is science, technology, engineering and math curriculum.

By working together, we aim to equip our youth with the tools they need to become the leaders of tomorrow. By designing career programs with our neighbors, communities and the environment in mind, we hope STEM education will help guide them as they lead the Golden State in meeting our growing energy needs in an economically responsible and environmentally sustainable way.

Being socially conscious means recognizing the needs of our ethnically diverse communities. The opportunity to earn a solid paycheck without a four-year degree is being eliminated. However, one industry that is providing that much-needed economic mobility is the oil and gas industry. In fact, one-third of the industry’s workforce has a high school degree or less and an average annual wage of $84,000.The oil and gas industry supports an all-of-the-above energy approach which means safely developing our energy resources to support everything we do at home, work and play. We believe in having a fact-based and balanced conversation about the critical role that energy – all forms of energy – plays in every aspect of our society, economy and daily lives.

“Careers in Energy” programs like this and other industry workforce opportunities focus to empower all our students in Ventura County.

The California Chamber of Commerce has released a report of California legislators’ floor votes for the first year of the 2017-18 legislative session, focusing on priority bills to the state’s business community.

This is the 43rd vote record the CalChamber has compiled in response to numerous requests by member firms and local chambers of commerce that would like a gauge by which to measure the performance of their legislators.

No vote record can tell the entire story of a legislator’s attitude and actions on issues of importance to business. To fully evaluate your legislative representative, consult the legislative journals and examine your legislator’s votes in committee and on floor issues.

Many anti-business bills were rejected by legislators in policy or fiscal committees, thus stopping proposals before they reached the floor for a vote. The vote record does not capture these votes.

Most bills in this report cover major business issues that are of concern to both small and large companies.

The CalChamber recognizes that there are many bills supported or opposed by business that are not included in this vote record and analysis.

Factors Considered

The CalChamber considers the following factors in selecting vote record bills:

The bills and votes reflect legislators’ attitudes toward private enterprise, fiscal responsibility and the business climate.

Each bill was a CalChamber priority in a particular field. Priority bills have appeared in the “Status Report” sections of Alert.

The bills were voted upon by either the full Senate or Assembly. This year, the vote record covers 16 votes in the Senate and 15 votes in the Assembly.

Unless otherwise noted, final floor votes are shown. Concurrence votes are considered final votes.

Priority Bills

Contracting Out

AB 1250 (Jones-Sawyer; D-South Los Angeles)Costly County Contractor Process. Imposes a cost to contractors with county contracts, subjects contractor and subcontractor employees’ private information to Public Records Act requests, and seeks to severely limit options for these counties to determine the most appropriate solution to providing efficient and effective public service by establishing significant and costly obstacles for agencies and for vendors contracting for personal services. Passed Assembly, June 1, 45-30. In Senate Rules Committee, Sept. 5. CalChamber Opposed.

SB 574 (Lara; D-Bell Gardens)Jeopardizes State Workforce Goals. Unnecessarily impedes the ability of the University of California (UC) to use its restricted state funding in the most efficient manner possible to continue expanding enrollment without compromising on the quality of the education it provides or substantially increasing the state’s General Fund contribution by placing unreasonable restrictions on when the UC may contract for services. Passed Assembly, Sept. 14, 50-26. Senate concurred in Assembly amendments, Sept. 15, 26-11. Vetoed. CalChamber Opposed.

SB 49 (de León; D-Los Angeles) Creates Uncertainty and Increases Potential Litigation Regarding Environmental Standards.Creates uncertainty by giving broad and sweeping discretion to state agencies to adopt rules and regulations more stringent than the federal rules and regulations in effect on Jan. 19, 2017 through an expedited administrative procedure without public participation or input, when the state agencies determine that federal action leads to less stringent laws and regulations than those in effect on Jan. 19, 2017; and increases the potential for costly litigation by creating private rights of action under California law, which may be triggered when a state agency takes the foregoing discretionary action. Passed Senate, May 30, 24-13. In Assembly Rules Committee, Sept. 12. CalChamber Opposed/Job Killer.

AB 1179 (Kalra; D-San Jose) Increased Costs and Likely Processing Delays for Hazardous Waste Permit Operators.Prematurely and unnecessarily imposes new costs on hazardous waste permit operators and will likely result in further delays in permit processing by arbitrarily setting inspection frequencies for certain facilities and directing the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to adopt regulations setting inspection frequencies for all facilities, notwithstanding the fact that DTSC is currently reforming its enforcement program at the regulatory level. Passed Assembly, May 31, 50-17. Passed Senate, Sept. 14, 28-12. Vetoed. CalChamber Opposed.

SB 562 (Lara; D-Bell Gardens)Government-Run Health Care. Penalizes responsible employers and individuals and results in significant new taxes on all Californians and California businesses by creating a new single-payer government-run, multibillion-dollar health care system financed by an unspecified and undeveloped “revenue plan.” Passed Senate, June 1, 23-14. Held at Assembly Desk, June 1. CalChamber Opposed/Job Killer.

Housing and Land Use

AB 890 (Medina; D-Riverside) Outlaws Certain Local Land Use Initiatives. Eliminates Californians’ local initiative power to pursue changes in land use by giving exclusive authority to city councils and county board of supervisors to adopt or amend land use plans, change specified land use or zoning designations, or allow more intensive land uses within existing land use or zoning designations. Passed Senate, Sept. 6, 22-15. Assembly concurred in Senate amendments, Sept. 13, 45-30. Vetoed. CalChamber Opposed.

AB 168 (Eggman; D-Stockton)Exposure to Litigation. Exposes employers to costly litigation for inquiring into an applicant’s prior salary or failing to provide a pay scale upon demand, even though the employee has not suffered any harm or wage loss as a result of the violation. Passed Senate, Sept. 12, 27-10. Assembly concurred in Senate amendments, Sept. 14, 57-15. Signed—Chapter 688. CalChamber Opposed.

AB 569 (Gonzalez Fletcher; D-San Diego)Pregnancy Discrimination. Creates a new mandate in the Labor Code, prohibiting employers from taking any adverse employment action against an employee due to the employee’s use of various medical options for reproductive health, even though the Fair Employment and Housing Act currently provides these protections to employees, thereby creating inconsistencies and confusion amongst employers with regard to interpretation and enforcement of these competing provisions. Passed Senate, Sept. 12, 27-13. Assembly concurred in Senate amendments, Sept. 14, 55-20. Vetoed. CalChamber Opposed.

AB 1209 (Gonzalez Fletcher; D-San Diego)Public Shaming of Employers. Imposes new data collection mandate on California employers to collect and report data to the Secretary of State regarding the difference in mean and median salaries of men and women in the same job title and job description, determine which employees perform “substantially similar” work, and then have that report posted on a publicly accessible website, where such employers will receive undue scrutiny and criticism for wage disparity that is not unlawful and justified by a bona fide factor. Passed Senate, Sept. 7, 23-13. Assembly concurred in Senate amendments, Sept. 11, 47-23. Vetoed. CalChamber Opposed/Job Killer.

Best Business VotesA “Best Business Votes” section lists legislators according to the percentage of times they voted with the CalChamber position on the bills selected for the vote record. Votes when a legislator was absent are not included in calculating percentages.

For more details on how the vote record is compiled and descriptions of the bills included,Click here.